The Pegasus
In the Riker and the Pegasus ' |image= |series= |production=40277-264 |producer(s)= |story= |script= Ronald D. Moore |director= LeVar Burton |imdbref=tt0708817 |guests=Nancy Vawter as Admiral Blackwell, Terry O'Quinn as Admiral Pressman and Michael Mack as Commander Sirol |previous_production=Parallels |next_production=Homeward |episode=TNG S07E12 |airdate= 10 January 1994 |previous_release=Parallels |next_release=(TNG) Homeward (Overall) The Alternate |story_date(s)=47457.1 (2370) |previous_story=(TNG) Parallels (Overall) Rivals |next_story=(TNG) Homeward (Overall) The Alternate }} Summary Picard and Riker are joined by Admiral Pressman, who was Riker's first commanding officer, for a secret assignment. Riker is shocked to hear that debris from their ship, the U.S.S. Pegasus, which was lost with most of its crew 12 years ago, has been located in the Devolin system by the Romulans. Pressman explains that the Federation must find it first to prevent sensitive technologies from falling into the wrong hands. The search begins, and the U.S.S. Enterprise is soon confronted by a Romulan warbird that is obviously on a similar mission. Later, Riker and Pressman discuss what happened to the Pegasus, and Riker is clearly disturbed when Pressman reveals that he wants to find the ship in order to try the secret experiment that caused the disaster 12 years earlier. He tells Riker that the Chief of Starfleet Security is behind the mission, and orders Riker to keep the mission's true nature secret from Picard. The Enterprise continues to search, and Geordi picks up a resonance signature from an asteroid. It seems to be that of the Pegasus, which has apparently been pulled into one of the asteroid's fissures. At that moment, the Warbird reappears, and Riker suggests they destroy the asteroid rather than let the Romulans find the ship. Pressman objects, and Picard suggests that they blanket the asteroid with ionizing radiation to mask any signals the Pegasus may emit. The plan works, the Warbird moves off, and Picard orders Data to further divert the Romulans by pretending to continue their search. Afterward, Pressman attacks Riker for suggesting they destroy the Pegasus, and Riker indicates that he is uncomfortable lying to the crew. Pressman sympathizes, but stresses the importance of the mission. Later, Riker meets with Picard, who has learned, with some difficulty, that there was a mutiny aboard the Pegasus just prior to its disappearance. He suspects a Starfleet cover-up, and asks Riker for his version of the story. Riker tells him that the crew mutinied because they felt Pressman was jeopardizing the ship, and that he supported his captain out of duty. But when Picard presses Riker for more information, he refuses to comply. Soon afterward, the Enterprise arrives back at the asteroid, and Pressman orders Picard to take the ship inside the fissure. Picard objects to the risky procedure, but the admiral outranks him, so Picard is forced to carry out the orders. Inside the asteroid, they find the Pegasus fused into the rock. Riker and Pressman transport to the ship's Engineering section where among the bodies of their former crewmates, Pressman discovers the cylindrical device he was looking for. With difficulty, Riker tells Pressman that he cannot let him conduct another experiment with the device, reminding him that many people died because of it. Pressman defends his experiment, which apparently violates a Federation treaty, and reminds Riker that he is under orders not to reveal what he knows. At that moment, the ship begins to shake violently, and Picard transports the pair back to the Enterprise. There, he shares the grim news — the Romulan ship found them and has sealed the Enterprise inside the asteroid. Seeing no other choice, Riker suggests that they use Pressman's experiment, the secret prototype for a cloaking device that allows ships to travel through solid matter, to escape. Pressman is furious to have his experiment revealed, but Picard is equally furious that the admiral has violated the Federation treaty against developing this type of technology. But despite its dangers, Picard agrees to use it to escape the asteroid, thus revealing the process to the Romulan ship. Afterwards, he places Pressman under arrest for violating Federation law, and when Riker reminds him that he, too, is guilty, Picard grimly arrests his first officer as well. Clearing the Devolin system, Picard comes to Riker in the Enterprise brig. Dismissing Armstrong and disengaging the force field, he comes into the cell. He tells Riker that Admiral Shanthi has spoken to the captain to say that a full inquiry into the Pegasus incident will take place once the ship reaches Starbase 247, which would result in a court martial of Pressman and several others at Starfleet Intelligence; Picard tells Riker that he'll have some hard questions to answer, and may lose some of the respect he has earned since his days aboard the Pegasus. But, Picard notes, Riker stepped forward and did the right thing, even knowing the cost. As long as Riker can still do that, then he will still be able to wear his uniform, and Picard will continue to be proud to have him as his first officer. Together, the two officers walk out of the brig. Errors and Explanations Plot Oversights # Pressman telling Picard the Romulans had found a piece of the Pegasus, despite the ship being found largely intact later on. It was probably a piece of the hull where the ship breached that the Romulans recovered. # Worf knowing that the Romulan ship was performing a tachyon scan when the Enterprise arrived, even though the Warbird was cloaked. The Enterprise sensors may have picked up emmissions from the Tachyon scans through the cloak. # Riker and Pressman discussing the 'experiment' at a table in Ten Forward instead of Pressman's quarters. Maybe the tables have privacy shields, similar to the ones used in the series Babylon 5. # References to both the chief of Starfleet Intelligence and the chief of Starfleet Security. Maybe both chiefs are involved. # The Federation signing an agreement that bans them from developing and using cloaking devices, thus placing them at a disadvantage. Perhaps they chose to err on the side of caution, especially after the fallout from Project Genesis. # Picard choosing to reveal the affair to the Romulans by decloaking in front of the Warbird after Enterprise escaped the asteroid. It was the only viable course of action. (see Nit Central entry by Cybermortis on Friday, May 02, 2008 - 6:12 am) Internet Movie Database Factual errors # When Admiral Pressman described the Pegasus, he called it a prototype. When we see the ship trapped in the asteroid, the registry number is NCC-53847. A prototype would have an "X" designation, so it should have been listed as NCCX-53847. Use of the standard NCC designation would hide it's special status from hostile forces, as the prescence of the NX designation - Starfleet never used NCCX - on an established, decades old design would raise suspicions. Nit Central # Johanna on Wednesday, May 26, 1999 - 4:41 pm: Can someone please explain to me how on earth (no pun intended, not even an extremely bad one) Pressman made admiral? This guy loses his ship under highly suspicious circumstances, the investigation is inconclusive... and Starfleet promotes him? I know that promoveatur ut amoveatur seems to be the creed of Starfleet Command, but… Don't get me wrong, this is one of my favourite eps. I just don't understand what Starfleet was thinking...Alfonso Turnage on Friday, May 28, 1999 - 4:15 pm: I think Pressman had knowledge of Section 31 so perhaps they helped him go up in the ranks. He is after all Asst. Chief of Starfleet INTELLIGENCE! Hans Thielman on Thursday, June 03, 1999 - 10:18 am: Riker lost the Enterprise D, which wasn't rotating its shield frequencies, to an aging Klingon Bird of Prey in "Generations," yet Riker wasn't drummed out of Starfleet. Johanna on Thursday, June 03, 1999 - 1:07 pm: He wasn't promoted to admiral either. BTW, I didn't say Pressman should have been drummed out of Starfleet, just that I didn't think his making admiral made much sense…''Allan Fogul on Wednesday, March 14, 2001 - 10:50 am:'' It WAS 12 years between the time he lost the ship and the time of the episode. it's not like they promoted him the next week. # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 7:31 am: After the Romulans resume their Tachyon sweep, Worf comments that the Romulans have had two days head start. How did he know that the Romulans have been there for two days? Most likely an educated guess, based on information from Pressman's mission briefing. # Did everyone on the Pegasus know about the cloaking device or just Ensigns like Riker? Brian Fitzgerald on Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 5:15 pm: Riker was on the bridge at the time of the crisis as I remember. Anyone on the bridge, in engineering, or manning sensors would know what was happening. # If there had been a hull breach in Engineering then why were there bodies lying around? Shouldn't the explosive decompression have blown them into space? The breech may not have been large enough. # Supposedly this device allows a ship to pass through solid matter and what happened to the Pegasus seems to verify this, but when the Enterprise leaves the asteroid, why doesn't the rock pass through the bridge? LUIGI NOVI on Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 10:59 pm: Bingo, Keith. Thing is, it would've been very difficult to film in a way that would've conveyed what was happening. We wouldn't have even been able to see the bridge. The same problem came up in Death Wish (VOY), and the effect that was used to convey it in that episode wasn't the most convincing. Jeff Muscato on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 11:38 pm: It seemed to me that the shield bubble represents the boundary of "phased" matter. Thus, only at the edge of the shield bubble does the rock appear. The Pegasus got rock inside it's shield bubble because the shield was deactivated (or it malfunctioned, I suppose) while they were traveling through rock. Until that point, they couldn't see the rock in the port-less Engineering compartment.Seniram Maybe it did go through the bridge – we just didn't see it because of the phase variance! # Also in the book Phil wondered why Pressman was so eager to recover the device when there should be blueprints. Well, if the Romulans had gotten hold of the Pegasus, they could prove that it had a Federation cloaking device in violation of the Treaty. LUIGI NOVI on Sunday, June 16, 2002 - 10:59 pm: Yeah, but it doesn't really seem that that's Pressman's main concern in this episode. He clearly seems to want to get to the device so they can USE it. His statement to Picard that the Treaty of Algeron has handcuffed them for decades is partially an indication of this. If Pressman feels this way, and they've been using blueprints, well, then why HAVEN'T they been using the phase cloak? It seems from Pressman's attitude that they haven't. # I wonder if the Federation could claim that the cloaking effect was accidental and that the real intent was to build a phasing device? Wouldn't the Romulans interpret a phasing device an a violation of the no UFP Cloaking device provision of the treaty? Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation